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The Mid-Atlantic Hanoverian Breeders group does coop among ourselves to set up tours of our farms or to gather prospects for a buyer to see at one particular farm or another. We work really hard to do this for every discipline - dressage, hunter, jumper, eventing. We also share requests from buyers via email. Most of my own sales have come from M.A.H.B. cooperation.

I'm also, as are others among us, very active in the hunter and jumper world, going to shows most weekends during AA show season in Zone 3. I also have a young horse starter who has very good contacts in the eventing and h/j world which helps me much. We have a Toering-bred Hanoverian mare out and about in 3'3" Performance and I also do the hunter breeding and, occasionally, DSHB and FEH with my young home-breds.

Regarding the website idea -- does anyone remember the lengthy discussions on here and the subsequent development of the "North American Sport Horse Breeder's Group" (or a similar name)? The idea was great, and the founder put a fair amount of time into it, but it has since fizzled. As dags mentioned, getting a nice website up and going isn't cheap. And getting a group to agree on things -- like how much to contribute, what things to include, or whether to contribute before they've seen the final product -- all of these things can be a challenge.

I'm really happy to report that the US Sport Horse Breeders Group concept has NOT fizzled!

Far from it--I have just completed an update for distribution today about the formation of a Steering Committee whose members are among the most accomplished breeders in the country, distinguished among their peers, and experienced in volunteer and committee work. They also represent multiple disciplines and a coast-to-coast, and everywhere-in-between geographical distribution. The Committee's initial meeting was convened just this past week via conference call (the first one I've ever organized), and it was extremely productive.

You may remember that the concept for a US Sport Horse Breeders group really coalesced last winter, and when spring arrived it had started to gather quite a lot of momentum...well....

I'm sorry if this comes as a complete shock to some of you, but foaling and breeding season turned out to be quite an awkward timeframe within which to conduct meaningful dialogue between any significant number of breeders, even when it became clear that a stellar group had emerged and indicated their complete and total willingness to serve on a steering committee!

I apologize for not having made an appearance on these threads earlier. I didn't want to count chickens before they have hatched, so wanted to wait until the meeting was completed before making any comments here.

If you would like to receive this afternoon's email update (which includes a refreshed version of the USSHB summary/proposal), and you are not already on our email distribution list, please send an email to:
USSHB Updates <us.breeders.group.updates@gmail.com> with "ADD MY NAME" in the subject line.

Siegi, as a recent purchaser I will try to answer some of your questions. I wanted to buy american, I had the funds to buy a nice prospect, and to travel. My biggest problem was getting response from sellers, and getting information about what was out there. I spent a few hundred hours on the internet, so many sites showed foal pictures on horses currently 3-4 years. There was NO central site I could go to with current info on horses for sale. I had a terrible time getting responses from many breeders. One in particular had a youngster that sounded perfect, the owner (who posts here) was travelling and gave me the contact of the trainer who currently had the horse, I could NOT get in contact with him. Finally after several attempts I received an e-mail with a time to contact, but I never got a response to my call so surprise, I gave up. I live in the west and tried to arrange a trip east, but again communication was so poor I gave that up as well. Exception was Judy Yancey who had an interesting prospect, but I didn't want to head east for one horse. (Wish I had seen Rolling Stone Farm website earlier). Did owners think I wasn't serious? Not good enough? (Amateur with a good young horse trainer and I have bronze and silver medals). I ended up with a youngster from a CA breeder. I wouldn't have looked there (no current info), but I know some horses she bred that are NICE. I had two horses fail PPE first. Very Expensive to travel to see ONE horse. I love the idea of breeders cooperating to help line up several to see.

I run my buisness this way. If I don't personally have what you are looking for, chances are I know who does and will gladly refer to them. When a client comes to me , I think it important to sell them what they are looking for whether it's in my barn or not.

I have done this many times and the customer always comes back. Breeders need to work together regardless of who actually gets the sale. When the breeders work together , they keep the customer "in house" so to speak and they don't loose them to Europe or wherever.

Gina Fisk of Antero Equestrian was the guiding force behind one of the newest groups, the Sporthorse Breeder’s Alliance, which was formed in December 2009 and already had over 130 members in just the first two months. I was quick to join this group myself, happy at the prospect of expanding my circle of breeder friends and contacts. Gina reports that response to the group has been overwhelmingly positive, with new members joining weekly. She feels groups like this are “a great communication mechanism to bring breeders together”, where breeders can share leads and tips on selling, and become more familiar with other breeders in their area.

She notes that North American breeders and sellers have a unique problem competing with Europe “because North America is so big and our horses are so spread out, which makes it more difficult for buyers to see several horses in one trip.” Better coordination between sellers, with the aid of groups such as the Sporthorse Breeder’s Alliance, can potentially make it easier for buyers and sellers to arrange buying trips more similar to Europe, to help encourage buyers to “shop at home” first.

The group sadly fizzled, for reasons I touched on in my previous post. (Note -- I am not blaming Gina, rather I give her credit for taking on such a huge project in the first place.)

This conversation reminds me, I wonder what is the status of the North American Sport Horse Federation? This was another new group which sounded like it had potential.

I run my buisness this way. If I don't personally have what you are looking for, chances are I know who does and will gladly refer to them. When a client comes to me , I think it important to sell them what they are looking for whether it's in my barn or not.

I have done this many times and the customer always comes back. Breeders need to work together regardless of who actually gets the sale. When the breeders work together , they keep the customer "in house" so to speak and they don't loose them to Europe or wherever.

This. This point cannot be over-emphasized. I live in the midwest and it isn't always easy drawing a buyers attention to this region. However, when someone contacts me I can almost always put together a trip to multiple farms within a 2 hour radius to look at horses in all age groups. There are a suprising number of good breeders in many areas, but we have to be willing to share that information with potential clients. A lot of breeders I know in my area don't have up-to-date websites (or any website), don't do Facebook, chat rooms etc. But if someone contacts me about a horse I'm offering I always offer to put them in touch/arrange trips to other farms in my area that they may not know about. Even if I think I have what they are looking for, I always offer to show them other farms, b/c they are often more willing to travel to see multiple horses vs. one horse. Most buyers and grateful for this, and a little shocked. They also are often very suprised at the number of farms in the area that have never turned up on their internet searches. My horses bloodlines draw potential clients, but it is the willingness to truly help them find what they want that has resulted in return business. I believe that it is working; I have a small program (relatively new, too) and within the last year have sold horses from my program to California, New York, New Mexico, Michigan, and Kentucky off the top of my head. For being located in western Missouri, that's not too bad

I do this too. Last week a lady called looking for something that I did not have. I gave her contact info for 3 trainers and several breeders in my area. If you are helpful, buyers appreciate it and will tell their buying friends.

Originally Posted by Bayhawk

I run my buisness this way. If I don't personally have what you are looking for, chances are I know who does and will gladly refer to them. When a client comes to me , I think it important to sell them what they are looking for whether it's in my barn or not.

I have done this many times and the customer always comes back. Breeders need to work together regardless of who actually gets the sale. When the breeders work together , they keep the customer "in house" so to speak and they don't loose them to Europe or wherever.